Crossword Genius

Difficult individual runs America, grasping nothing (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

onerous

'difficult' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'individual runs america grasping nothing' is the wordplay.
'individual' becomes 'one'.
'runs' becomes 'r' (cricket abbreviation).
'america' becomes 'us' (abbreviation for the United States**).
'grasping' is an insertion indicator.
'nothing' becomes 'o' (looks like zero - 0).
'r'+'us'='rus'
'rus' enclosing 'o' is 'rous'.
'one'+'rous'='ONEROUS'

(Other definitions for onerous that I've seen before include "Toilsome" , "Difficult, troublesome" , "Burdensome, weighty" , "'Heavy, burdensome (7)'" , "Oppressive, difficult to bear" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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